The B.C. Cobb Generating Plant was built 65-years ago and still has two coal-powered units. It is located on the east end of Muskegon Lake at the Muskegon River outlet.Chronicle file photo

The closure and removal of the Cobb plant would make the only Muskegon Lake shoreline industry the Cole’s Bakery plant, which makes frozen garlic bread. With no Sappi paper mill or Cobb power plant, Muskegon Lake would begin a whole new era.

“This announcement of a demolition is the best thing that could have ever had happened to the Muskegon Lakeshore region,” said Cindy Larsen, president of the Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce. “This will remake and ever-change Muskegon.”

As sad and discouraging as it might be for Muskegon’s historical industrial structures to be brought down, it is sure better than the alternative, community leaders and economic developers say.

“The planned demolition of the plant is a positive thing,” Muskegon Mayor Steve Gawron said, adding that the plant closure had been expected since the company announced in late 2011 that it would suspend operations in early 2015.

“We did not want that plant sitting mothballed,” Gawron said of past plans of Consumers Energy. “It is negative that it will cease operations but positive that it will be demolished for future uses.”

Muskegon Area First President Ed Garner agrees. A lasting eye-sore of a closed plant in a community is bad for community image and bad for business, he said.

“It is good that this will not drag out years, years and years,” said Garner, head of the Muskegon County economic development agency.

Muskegon is home to enough vacant, abandoned industrial legacy buildings, officials said. The community is much further ahead when old industrial companies close facilities and they are removed before they become a blighting influence, they said.

Consumers Energy officials said the company will not move forward with closure and demolition of the Cobb plant, located on the Muskegon River where it empties into Muskegon Lake, until a special bond issue is approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission and the final closure is approved by the company board of directors. State approval is expected by the end of the year, company officials said.

As difficult as it will be to lose the property tax base – Cobb has been Muskegon County’s leading taxpayer – and the well-paying jobs – about 115 are employed at the plant – community leaders are pleased to be looking forward rather than backward.

“This certainly will speed up the planning for the redevelopment of the site,” Garner said of the 300 acres immediately on the Cobb site and the 1,000 acres that the electric company owns along Muskegon Lake and the Muskegon River.

Muskegon Area First worked with Consumers Energy on an initial study of the reuse of the Cobb plant’s six-year-old, huge lake freighter dock – able to accommodate the largest Great Lakes ships which bring coal to the plant.

Garner said that a second phase of the redevelopment study will look at potential redevelopment uses for the entire Cobb site. A consultant’s report is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The current thinking in Muskegon with city, county and community leaders is to redevelop the east end of Muskegon Lake with port development that supports clean manufacturing industries. The removal of the smokestacks at Sappi and Cobb will change the lake views and the community image.

“We will not have heavy, smokestack industries on the waterfront anymore,” Larsen said. “Industry is still alive and well in Muskegon, but the factories are in the industrial parks where they belong.”

That leaves a more aggressive redevelopment of the remainder of Muskegon Lake’s south shore from downtown Muskegon to the Muskegon Channel for residential, recreational and tourist developments, Larsen said.

“If you travel the state, you realize the amazing qualities of Muskegon Lake,” Larsen said. “Unfortunately, they have been hidden in the shadow of the big Cobb stack. There are pretty lakes, beautiful lakes and magnificent lakes. People will discover with Cobb gone that Muskegon Lake is magnificent.”

Certainty of the potential closure and demolition of the Cobb plant would give community leaders time to prepare for the loss of tax revenues but also for a redevelopment plan.

“We need to move ahead and make a positive out of all of this,” Gawron said. “With our waterfront properties, we need to further the new vision of Muskegon as the Port of Michigan.”

Muskegon County Commissioner Terry Sabo heads up the county’s Public Works Board and a special port committee. The closure of the Cobb plant is no shock but a reality that county and community leaders have been planning to confront, he said.

“As an optimist, I think we need to press on with greater achievements for our waterfront for the future,” Sabo said of the county’s port committee, established in part because the Cobb plant was eventually going to be closed. “We face a new era of industry on the lake. We don’t know exactly what that will be, but we are getting regional and statewide interest.”

Muskegon Area First has worked with The Right Place in Grand Rapids to create the West Michigan Economic Development Partnership, which has brought together Muskegon and Kent county governments, including the city of Muskegon.